Relief groups are racing to get urgently needed aid to millions of destitute Afghans with the start of the harsh winter barely days away.
The UN World Food Program, which is spearheading the drive to get food in, is under no illusions that it will get harder and harder as the days wear on.
"The clock is ticking but it doesn't stop ticking on November 15," said spokeswoman Heather Hill, referring to the traditional start of the Afghan winter, when temperatures plunge far below freezing.
"All we can do is focus on pumping in as much as we can," she said.
The first snowfalls of the season have already been reported in the Paghman Hills north of the Afghan capital, Kabul, which residents said indicated an early start to winter.
According to aid workers, more than six million Afghans will be dependant on international aid as the weather deteriorates.
Living standards in Afghanistan are already among the worst in the world. Even before the US bombing campaign, food was scarce after three years of drought. Life expectancy is just 43 years.
Hundreds of thousands have managed to flee to Pakistan and other neighboring countries since the US unleashed its military might on October 7. Many more are languishing in primitive conditions at makeshift staging posts near border crossings.
UNICEF has warned that "as many as 100,000 more children will die in Afghanistan this winter unless food reaches them in sufficient quantities in the next six weeks."
The countries neighboring landlocked Afghanistan refuse to open their borders except to the most needy. They show no sign of relaxing their hardline stances despite the looming humanitarian crisis, fearing an influx of millions of refugees that they say they cannot cope with.
Hill said the WFP was considering air drops as one way of reaching Afghans far from urban areas, but there is no guarantee the Taliban will allow this to happen.
The WFP and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) need the ruling Islamic militia to guarantee security for the planes and aid workers on the ground.
"When the situation demands it we will do air drops provided we all have the necessary conditions -- permission to use the air space, drop-zone security and staff on the ground to monitor and help distribute the food," Hill said.
"While that is in the planning, our focus is on getting in by truck."
The WFP, which is working with 30 NGOs in Afghanistan, plans to bring in snow ploughs to keep mountain passes clear so food can be taken to more remote districts.
It has also bought 60,000 liters of fuel, which will be made available to local WFP truckers at US$0.30 a liter -- half the open-market price.
"Some roads will get closed but not all of them. We just have to keep watching, monitoring," Hill said.
A Norwegian expert on shifting snow recently arrived in Quetta, a town close to the Afghan border, to advise on logistical aspects of the operation.
The WFP, which is shipping aid in through Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, has set a target of delivering 52,000 tons of food a month. They deliver an average of 1,400 tons a day now.
The agency said its immediate aim was to deliver 9,000 tons of food (a six-month supply of wheat for 30,000 families) in six priority districts: the Panjsher Valley, Ragh, Sharibuzurg, Darwaz, Singnan and Khwahan.
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